No. 15 Baseball Begins Classic Friday

March 12, 2009

No. 15 Sooners (15-3) at USF Bulls Baseball Classic
Location	Tampa, Fla. \| Red McEwan Field
Game 19	vs. Bethune Cookman - Friday, March 13 - 2 p.m.
Game 20	vs. South Florida - Saturday, March 14 - 6 p.m.
Game 21	vs. Eastern Illinois - Sunday, March 15 - 11 a.m.
Live Stats	SoonersSports.com - All three games
Audio	Oklahoma All-Access - All three games
Game Information	Game Notes \| 2009 Media Guide

TAMPA, Fla. -- Winners of its last eight games and 10 of the last 11, the No. 15 University of Oklahoma baseball team travels to Tampa, Fla., for the USF Bulls Baseball Classic. The tournament marks the final non-conference weekend for the Sooners who begin Big 12 play next weekend.

OU kicks off the weekend against Bethune Cookman (8-7) on Friday at 2 p.m. CST at Red McEwan Field on the USF campus. On Saturday, the Sooners battle the host Bulls (7-5) at 6 p.m. before concluding action on Sunday against Eastern Illinois (6-4) at 11 a.m.

Friday's meeting Bethune Cookman will be the first in the series.

The Sooners and Bulls have met in five previous games with OU holding a 3-2 edge. The Sooners won the last two meetings in 2008 in Tampa. OU won game one, 6-1, and topped the Bulls in game two, 7-5. The first meeting came during the 1981 season and resulted in a 9-3 Sooner victory, also in Tampa.

Oklahoma and Eastern Illinois have met eight times in the series but not since the 2005 season. The Sooners have won all eight games, including a three-game sweep the last time they played the Panthers in 2005.

GAME 19 - Friday, March 13 vs. Bethune Cookman
First Pitch  2:00 p.m. CST
OU Starter  Andrew Doyle - RHP (2-1, 3.72)
BC Starter  Hiram Burgos - RHP (1-2, 5.51)
Live Audio  All-Access/Soonersports.com
Series information: first meeting

GAME 20 - Saturday, March 14 vs. South Florida
First Pitch 6 p.m. CST
OU Starter Antwonie Hubbard - RHP (1-0, 3.38)
USF Starter Derrick Stultz - RHP (2-0, 1.56)
Live Audio All-Access/Soonersports.com
Series information: OU leads 3-2
In Tampa: OU leads 3-2
First Meeting OU won 9-3 | March 11, 1981 (Tampa, Fla.)
Last Meeting OU won 7-5 | March 19, 2008 (Tampa, Fla.)

GAME 21 - Sunday, March 15 vs. Eastern Illinois
First Pitch 11 a.m. CST
OU Starter  Garrett Richards - RHP (1-0, 6.91)
EIU Starter  Mike Recchia - RHP (2-0, 1.00)
Live Audio  All-Access/Soonersports.com
Series information: OU leads 8-0
In Norman:  OU leads 8-0
First Meeting: OU won 5-3 | Feb. 29, 1992 (Norman, Okla.)
Last Meeting: OU won 6-1 | Feb. 21, 2005 (Norman, Okla.)

PLAYER TO WATCH - RYAN DUKE
The sophomore closer was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Pitcher of the week and earned national distinction as part of the Collegiate Baseball Foundation's All-Star lineup for week three after posting three saves and allowing one hit in three games vs. UCLA last weekend.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
This weekends' games will be broadcast live on the internet via Oklahoma All-Access, SoonerSports.com's premium paid site, with Chuck Kelly calling the play-by-play. Live stats will also be available for all three games.

UP NEXT
The Sooners return home before heading to Fort Worth, Texas to battle No. 12 TCU on Tuesday, March 17. Following the non-conference game, OU opens Big 12 play at Kansas State on Friday, March 20 for a three-game set.

LAST TIME OUT
The Sooners swept their fourth doubleheader of the season with a pair of wins over visiting Houston Baptist on Tuesday, March 10. OU won game one, 10-1, and then topped the Huskies in the night cap, 6-0.

DUKE NAME BIG 12/NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore closer Ryan Duke was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday following his three saves in three consecutive days against UCLA. Two days later, Duke was named to the Collegiate Baseball Foundation's “National All-Star Lineup.” Duke did not surrender a run or a walk in his 3 1/3 innings of relief against the Bruins and only gave up one hit while striking out four batters.

BACK-TO-BACK COMPLETE GAMES
Michael Rocha and C.J. Blue achieved a rare feat during Tuesday's doubleheader against Houston Baptist as both starters went the distance to allow a combined 11 hits and zero earned runs in 18 innings of action. The last time two Sooners threw back-to-back complete games was during the 2001 season. On April 27 of that year, Evan Greusel lasted nine innings (seven hits, zero runs) to top visiting Centenary. The next day, also against the Gents, Austin Mix went the distance after giving up one run off two hits.

12-0 AT HOME
Oklahoma won its 12th game in as many chances on Tuesday night. The perfect start matches the second best beginning to a season by an OU team at home. The 1975 Sooners started the home campaign with a 12-0 mark while the 1974 team started 17-0.

SCORING RUNS
The Sooners have scored 10 or more runs in eight of the 18 games this season with a 9.83 runs/game average . OU is 8-0 when they score 10-plus runs in a game in 2009. In addition, the Sooners are averaging 12 hits per game with 10 or more hits in all but five games. The Sooners are 12-1 when they connect for 10-plus hits in a contest.

OU IN BIG 12 RANKS
The Sooners can be found up and down the Big 12 statistics released on March 12. The Sooners' offense leads all conference teams in batting average (.352), runs (177), hits (219), doubles (50), triples (9), homers (22) and RBIs (158).

ONE-TWO PUNCH
The Sooners have a productive 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup and the proof is in the Big 12's top 10 statistics. Individually, Bryant Hernandez ranks first in hits (30), second in runs (20) and total bases (46), fourth in batting average (.435) and RBIs (19), and ninth in slugging percentage (.667). Jamie Johnson ranks first in runs scored (28), triples (3) and total bases (54), second in hits (28) and triples (3). fifth in RBIs (18), seventh in slugging percentage (.730) and 17th in batting average (.378).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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